Geography Archives: Syria

After a high-level meeting of the Russian and Venezuelan delegations, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed this Friday a series of strategic agreements, including an agreement to build the first nuclear power plant in Venezuela. The agreement, which had been negotiated during Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to Caracas last April, […]

  Nargess Moballeghi: Two revolutions in two parts of the world for two different reasons. . . .  The Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro overthrowing Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and the Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini overthrowing the Shah twenty years later.  Though ideologically they couldn’t have been further apart, they have a […]

Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was published in his blog on 2 October 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  See, also, Merle David Kellerhals, Jr., “United States to Strengthen Engagement with Puntland, Somaliland” (America.gov, 27 September 2010); Sophia Tesfamariam, “Ethiopia: It Is in the Minority Regime’s Interest to Perpetuate […]

In recent years, climate change seems to have elbowed out other environmental issues to become the No. 1 global problem.  But the alarming problems of water — increasing scarcity, lack of access to drinking water and sanitation, pollution, flooding — are equally important and an even more immediate threat. On 28 July, the UN General […]

Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was published in his blog on 20 September 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  See, also, “2 Election Officials Missing, Thousands Complaints Filed in Afghan Polls” (Xinhua, 21 September 2010). | Print

As he has every year since becoming President of the Islamic Republic, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is coming to New York this week to attend the United Nations General Assembly.  Several important U.S. media outlets have either already conducted (MSNBC, ABC) or will conduct (PBS’ Charlie Rose and CNN’s Larry King) interviews with Ahmadinejad in connection with […]

As Mahmoud Abbas chases after money, the Palestinian cause veers off course. Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was published in his blog on 10 September 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  The text above is an interpretation of the cartoon by Yoshie Furuhashi. | Print

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) clips the wings of the military by constitutional amendments. Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was published in his blog on 11 May 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  The text above is an interpretation of the cartoon by Yoshie Furuhashi.  Turkish voters approved […]

Uncle Sam reminds the world of the victims of September 11 while making war on Iraq and Afghanistan. Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was published in his blog on 2 September 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  The text above is an interpretation of the cartoon by Yoshie Furuhashi. […]

We noticed a small news item, reported from Tehran, which we think deserves more media attention and reflection in the West than it received.  According to the story, Chinese Transport Minister Liu Zhijun is expected to visit Iran Sunday to sign a $2 billion contract to build a 360-mile-long railway linking key Iranian destinations that […]

Once again Uri Avnery is using his blog to criticize the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.  Under the title “Red and Green,” Avnery comments on the long and interesting program recently broadcast on Israeli Channel 10 on the growing international isolation of Israel. Avnery, the veteran journalist and activist, repeats his main […]

There has, of course, been much commentary about the “re-launch” of the Middle East peace process last week in Washington.  Actually, the process is, at best, an Arab-Israeli peace process.  And, to be even more accurate, the process that was re-launched last week is really the highly conditioned Israeli-Palestinian “track” of old. Just giving an […]

Obama brings “change” to Guantanamo Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was published in his blog on 29 August 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  The text above is an interpretation of the cartoon by Yoshie Furuhashi. | Print

Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was published in his blog on 5 January 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. | Print

Uncle Sam tries to batter down the door to the Taliban stronghold . . . by banging the heads of Karzai and Zardari, not his own, against it. Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was published in his blog on 24 August 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  The text […]

Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was published in his blog on 22 August 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  | Print

  Christa Salamandra.  A New Old Damascus: Authenticity and Distinction in Urban Syria.  Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2004.  x + 199 pp.  $21.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-253-21722-6; $49.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-253-34467-0. Christa Salamandra’s A New Old Damascus: Authenticity and Distinction in Urban Syria is a thought-provoking analysis of one segment of the Syrian elite’s […]

As the driver of the “settlement” bulldozer removes the ground beneath his feet while blowing “two-state solution” soap bubbles, Mahmoud Abbas daydreams about a “sovereign Palestinian state.” Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was published in his blog on 24 June 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  The text above […]

Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was published in his blog on 8 August 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  | Print

No one should be surprised when The Economist or another controlled opinion source misrepresents tensions in the Persian Gulf as religious rivalry while overlooking decades of U.S. and Israeli success in stoking them for imperial gain.  The so-called mainstream press typically repeats unsubstantiated charges to pretend that Arab client states of Washington buy tens of […]